The Young Fur Traders Part 31

"Three miles or thereabouts."

"Very good. Call in here as you pa.s.s, and my friend Hamilton and I will accompany you. Good-night."

Jacques thrust his pipe into his bosom, held out his h.o.r.n.y hand, and giving his young friends a hearty shake, turned and strode from the room.

On the following day Jacques called according to promise, and the three friends set off together to visit the Indian village. This missionary station was under the management of a Wesleyan clergyman, Pastor Conway by name, an excellent man, of about forty-five years of age, with an energetic mind and body, a bald head, a mild, expressive countenance, and a robust const.i.tution. He was admirably qualified for his position, having a natural apt.i.tude for every sort of work that man is usually called on to perform. His chief care was for the instruction of the Indians, whom he had induced to settle around him, in the great and all-important truths of Christianity. He invented an alphabet, and taught them to write and read their own language. He commenced the laborious task of translating the Scriptures into the Cree language; and being an excellent musician, he instructed his converts to sing in parts the psalms and Wesleyan hymns, many of which are exceedingly beautiful.

A school was also established and a church built under his superintendence, so that the natives a.s.sembled in an orderly way in a commodious sanctuary every Sabbath day to wors.h.i.+p G.o.d; while the children were instructed, not only in the Scriptures, and made familiar with the narrative of the humiliation and exaltation of our blessed Saviour, but were also taught the elementary branches of a secular education. But good Pastor Conway's energy did not stop here. Nature had gifted him with that peculiar genius which is powerfully expressed in the term "a _jack-of-all-trades_." He could turn his hand to anything; and being, as we have said, an energetic man, he _did_ turn his hand to almost everything. If anything happened to get broken, the pastor could either mend it himself or direct how it was to be done. If a house was to be built for a new family of red men, who had never handled a saw or hammer in their lives, and had lived up to that time in tents, the pastor lent a hand to begin it, drew out the plan (not a very complicated thing, certainly), set them fairly at work, and kept his eye on it until it was finished. In short, the worthy pastor was everything to everybody, "that by all means he might gain some."

Under such management the village flourished as a matter of course, although it did not increase very rapidly owing to the almost unconquerable aversion of North American Indians to take up a settled habitation.

It was to this little hamlet, then, that our three friends directed their steps. On arriving, they found Pastor Conway in a sort of workshop, giving directions to an Indian who stood with a soldering-iron in one hand and a sheet of tin in the other, which he was about to apply to a curious-looking, half-finished machine that bore some resemblance to a canoe.

"Ah, my friend Jacques!" he exclaimed as the hunter approached him; "the very man I wished to see. But I beg pardon, gentlemen--strangers, I perceive. You are heartily welcome. It is seldom that I have the pleasure of seeing new friends in my wild dwelling. Pray come with me to my house."

Pastor Conway shook hands with Harry and Hamilton with a degree of warmth that evinced the sincerity of his words. The young men thanked him and accepted the invitation.

As they turned to quit the workshop, the pastor observed Jacques's eye fixed, with a puzzled expression of countenance, on his canoe.

"You have never seen anything like that before, I dare say?" said he, with a smile.

"No, sir; I never did see such a queer machine afore."

"It is a tin canoe, with which I hope to pa.s.s through many miles of country this spring, on my way to visit a tribe of Northern Indians; and it was about this very thing that I wanted to see you, my friend."

Jacques made no reply, but cast a look savouring very slightly of contempt on the unfinished canoe as they turned and went away.

The pastor's dwelling stood at one end of the village, a view of which it commanded from the back windows, while those in front overlooked the lake. It was pleasantly situated and pleasantly tenanted, for the pastor's wife was a cheerful, active little lady, like-minded with himself, and delighted to receive and entertain strangers. To her care Mr Conway consigned the young men, after spending a short time in conversation with them; and then, requesting his wife to show them through the village, he took Jacques by the arm and sauntered out.

"Come with me, Jacques," he began; "I have somewhat to say to you. I had not time to broach the subject when I met you at the Company's fort, and have been anxious to see you ever since. You tell me that you have met with my friend Redfeather?"

"Yes, sir; I spent a week or two with him last fall. I found him stayin' with his tribe, and we started to come down here together."

"Ah, that is the very point," exclaimed the pastor, "that I wished to inquire about. I firmly believe that G.o.d has opened that Indian's eyes to see the truth; and I fully expected, from what he said when we last met, that he would have made up his mind to come and stay here."

"As to what the Almighty has done to him," said Jacques, in a reverential tone of voice, "I don't pretend to know; he did for sartin speak, and act too, in a way that I never see'd an Injin do before. But about his comin' here, sir, you were quite right: he did mean to come, and I've no doubt will come yet."

"What prevented him coming with you, as you tell me he intended?"

inquired the pastor.

"Well, you see, sir, he and I and his squaw, as I said, set off to come here together; but when we got the length o' Edmonton House, we heerd that you were comin' up to pay a visit to the tribe to which Redfeather belongs; and so seein' that it was o' no use to come down hereaway just to turn about an' go up agin, he stopped there to wait for you, for he knew you would want him to interpret--"

"Ay," interrupted the pastor, "that's true. I have two reasons for wis.h.i.+ng to have him here. The primary one is, that he may get good to his immortal soul. And then he understands English so well that I want him to become my interpreter; for although I _understand_ the Cree language pretty well now, I find it exceedingly difficult to explain the doctrines of the Bible to my people in it. But pardon me, I interrupted you."

"I was only going to say," resumed Jacques, "that I made up my mind to stay with him; but they wanted a man to bring the winter packet here, so, as they pressed me very hard, an' I had nothin' particular to do, I 'greed and came, though I would rather ha' stopped; for Redfeather an' I ha' struck up a friends.h.i.+p togither--a thing that I would niver ha'

thought it poss'ble for me to do with a red Injin."

"And why not with a red Indian, friend?" inquired the pastor, while a shade of sadness pa.s.sed over his mild features, as if unpleasant thoughts had been roused by the hunter's speech.

"Well, it's not easy to say why," rejoined the other. "I've no partic'lar objection to the redskins. There's only one man among them that I bears a grudge agin, and even that one I'd rayther avoid than otherwise."

"But you should _forgive_ him, Jacques. The Bible tells us not only to bear our enemies no grudge, but to love them and to do them good."

The hunter's brow darkened. "That's impossible, sir," he said; "I couldn't do _him_ a good turn if I was to try ever so hard. He may bless his stars that I don't want to do him mischief; but to _love him_, it's jist imposs'ble."

"With man it is impossible, but with G.o.d all things are possible," said the pastor solemnly.

Jacques's naturally philosophic though untutored mind saw the force of this. He felt that G.o.d, who had formed his soul, his body, and the wonderfully complicated machinery and objects of nature, which were patent to his observant and reflective mind wherever he went, must of necessity be equally able to alter, influence, and remould them all according to his will. Common-sense was sufficient to teach him this; and the bold hunter exhibited no ordinary amount of common-sense in admitting the fact at once, although in the case under discussion (the loving of his enemy) it seemed utterly impossible to his feelings and experience. The frown, therefore, pa.s.sed from his brow, while he said respectfully, "What you say, sir, is true; I believe though I can't _feel_ it. But I s'pose the reason I niver felt much drawn to the redskins is, that all the time I lived in the settlements I was used to hear them called and treated as thievin' dogs, an' when I com'd among them I didn't see much to alter my opinion. Here an' there I have found one or two honest Injins, an' Redfeather is as true as steel; but the most o' them are no better than they should be. I s'pose I don't think much o' them just because they _are_ redskins."

"Ah, Jacques, you will excuse me if I say that there is not much sense in _that_ reason. An Indian cannot help being a red man any more than you can help being a white one, so that he ought not to be despised on that account. Besides, G.o.d made him what he is, and to despise the _work_ of G.o.d, or to undervalue it, is to despise G.o.d himself. You may indeed despise, or rather abhor, the sins that red men are guilty of; but if you despise _them_ on this ground, you must much more despise white men, for _they_ are guilty of greater iniquities than Indians are.

They have more knowledge, and are, therefore, more inexcusable when they sin; and any one who has travelled much must be aware that, in regard to general wickedness, white men are at least quite as bad as Indians. Depend upon it, Jacques, that there will be Indians found in heaven at the last day as well as white men. G.o.d is no respecter of persons."

"I niver thought much on that subject afore, sir," returned the hunter; "what you say seems reasonable enough. I'm sure an' sartin, any way, that if there's a redskin in heaven at all, Redfeather will be there, an' I only hope that I may be there too to keep him company."

"I hope so, my friend," said the pastor earnestly; "I hope so too, with all my heart. And if you will accept of this little book, it will show you how to get there."

The missionary drew a small, plainly-bound copy of the Bible from his pocket as he spoke, and presented it to Jacques, who received it with a smile, and thanked him, saying, at the same time, that he "was not much up to book-larnin', but he would read it with pleasure."

"Now, Jacques," said the pastor, after a little further conversation on the subject of the Bible, in which he endeavoured to impress upon him the absolute necessity of being acquainted with the blessed truths which it contains--"now, Jacques, about my visit to the Indians. I intend, if the Almighty spares me, to embark in yon tin canoe that you found me engaged with, and, with six men to work it, proceed to the country of the Knisteneux Indians, visit their chief camp, and preach to them there as long as the weather will permit. When the season is pretty well advanced, and winter threatens to cut off my retreat, I shall re-embark in my canoe and return home. By this means I hope to be able to sow the good seed of Christian truth in the hearts of men who, as they will not come to this settlement, have no chance of being brought under the power of the gospel by any other means."

Jacques gave one of his quiet smiles on hearing this. "Right, sir-- right," he said, with some energy; "I have always thought, although I niver made bold to say it before, that there was not enough o' this sort o' thing. It has always seemed to me a kind o' madness (excuse my plainness o' speech, sir) in you pastors, thinkin' to make the redskins come an' settle round you like so many squaws, and dig up an' grub at the ground, when it's quite clear that their natur' and the natur' o'

things about them meant them to be hunters. An' surely since the Almighty made them hunters, He intended them to _be_ hunters, an' won't refuse to make them Christians on _that_ account. A redskin's natur' is a huntin' natur', an' nothin' on arth'll ever make it anything else."

"There is much truth in what you observe, friend," rejoined the pastor; "but you are not _altogether_ right. Their nature _may_ be changed, although certainly nothing on _earth_ will change it. Look at that frozen lake." He pointed to the wide field of thick, snow-covered ice that stretched out for miles like a sheet of white marble before them.

"Could anything on earth break up or sink or melt that?"

"Nothin'," replied Jacques laconically--

"But the warm beams of yon glorious sun can do it," continued the pastor, pointing upwards as he spoke, "and do it effectually, too; so that, although you can scarcely observe the process, it nevertheless turns the hard, thick, solid ice into limpid water at last. So is it in regard to man. Nothing on earth can change his heart or alter his nature; but our Saviour, who is called the Sun of Righteousness, can.

When He s.h.i.+nes into a man's soul it melts. The old man becomes a little child, the wild savage a Christian. But I agree with you in thinking that we have not been sufficiently alive to the necessity of seeking to convert the Indians before trying to gather them round us. The one would follow as a natural consequence, I think, of the other, and it is owing to this conviction that I intend, as I have already said, to make a journey in spring to visit those who will not or cannot come to visit me. And now, what I want to ask is, whether you will agree to accompany me as steersman and guide on my expedition."

The hunter slowly shook his head. "I'm afeard not, sir; I have already promised to take charge of a canoe for the Company. I would much rather go with you, but I must keep my word."

"Certainly, Jacques, certainly; that settles the question. You cannot go with me--unless--" the pastor paused as if in thought for a moment--"unless you can persuade them to let you off."

"Well, sir, I can try," returned Jacques.

"Do; and I need not say how happy I shall be if you succeed. Good-day, friend, good-bye." So saying, the missionary shook hands with the hunter and returned to his house, while Jacques wended his way to the village in search of Harry and Hamilton.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.

GOOD NEWS AND ROMANTIC SCENERY--BEAR-HUNTING AND ITS RESULTS.

Jacques failed in his attempt to break off his engagement with the fur-traders. The gentleman in charge of Norway House, albeit a good-natured, estimable man, was one who could not easily brook disappointment, especially in matters that involved the interests of the Hudson's Bay Company; so Jacques was obliged to hold to his compact, and the pastor had to search for another guide.

Spring came, and with it the awakening (if we may use the expression) of the country from the long, lethargic sleep of winter. The sun burst forth with irresistible power, and melted all before it. Ice and snow quickly dissolved, and set free the waters of swamp and river, lake and sea, to leap and sparkle in their new-found liberty. Birds renewed their visits to the regions of the north; frogs, at last unfrozen, opened their leathern jaws to croak and whistle in the marshes, and men began their preparations for a summer campaign.